NASCAR 2013

Good move for RAB. Hopefully with Bowman (bit of a wheelman as i understand) they can find some solid sponsorship and forget about parting out their schedule to chickenboys, commentators and xtreme dudes.

You gotta wonder what the guy who decided to introduce a convertable series was smoking.....

The series was quite popular for a time. The obvious parallel to today is the truck series -- race the vehicles that the fans own or aspire to, and in the South convertibles were a big part of the new car market due to the warmer weather.

The convertible series was a real hit on the small tracks because the fans could see the drivers so well. Many teams had convertible convertibles -- cars with a removable hardtop that could run in both divisions. Also served as a sort of B division for the Grand National--cut the top off last year's GN car and run it as a ragtop. Changing times and the addition of more big tracks, especially Daytona (big aero drag) put them out of business.

You gotta wonder what the guy who decided to introduce a convertable series was smoking.....

Why? Plus, in the convertibles, it was much easier to see the driver working away in the car (as Magoo wrote ). Which is why many non-NASCAR short tracks allowed convertibles in the 60's & 70's.

The convertibles were quite popular in the Midwest, where they developed a strong foothold with an association known as SAFE (yes, I know). SAFE merged with NASCAR and the NASCAR Convertible Division was born. Look at it as one of NASCAR's first expansions. They accomplished two things, put down a potential threat and gained a presence in the Midwest.

Anyone else disappointed they dropped the Nationwide race in Montreal? Was one of the best NW races of the season last year T_T

I wouldn't call it that good of a race. Yes, it was on a road course, but it was a pretty lousy road course race. The last third of the race inevitably becomes a restart followed by a turn 1 crash followed by a caution, and then the cycle repeats until the race is out of laps.

EDIT: You know guys, the photo misleads...they had a square roll bar mounted behind the driver when racing. In fact, the roll bar probably was the same as in the GN Division of the time.

Jim ,

Some cars had the roll bar placed behind the windshield in front of the driver too. Sorta reversed normal positioning. I've seen photos of that set up and it seemed to be an acceptable way that NASCAR did approve of then.

Is that a roll bar mostly obscured by the windshield in that Massey picture too.?

Ok then, for those who are curious, here is a brief historical review and large photo gallery on the NASCAR convertible era. Interesting cars, in my view anyway. Should answer the roll bar questions among others.

Some cars had the roll bar placed behind the windshield in front of the driver too. Sorta reversed normal positioning. I've seen photos of that set up and it seemed to be an acceptable way that NASCAR did approve of then.

Is that a roll bar mostly obscured by the windshield in that Massey picture too.?

Yes, I've noticed Bob Welborn's (a photo of which was since posted by Magoo )

It doesn't look like they've even mounted one in Massey's car yet, which obviously led some here to assume they raced without them

Also, keep in mind it was only a couple of years earlier that NASCAR even required a roll bar even in GN cars.

Former WSbR Champion AND my former mentor, swedish driver Alx Danielsson has been testing with Creation Cope the past days in their Nationwide and ARCA cars, on both oval and road course.. Hope to se more of him over there

Per Jayski, Hendrick Motorsports will be running Truck for the first time in over 10 years with the #94 truck driven by 17-year-old Chase Elliott.

He will drive at both Martinsville and Iowa dates as well as Rockingham, Dover, Bristol, Mosport, and Phoenix.

Former WSbR Champion AND my former mentor, swedish driver Alx Danielsson has been testing with Creation Cope the past days in their Nationwide and ARCA cars, on both oval and road course.. Hope to se more of him over there

Wrong team to do it with, I don't how competitive their ARCA team is, but the NW team is severely underpowered.

In a time teams are struggling to find single race sponsor (nevermind full-time sponsorship), Shell has extended with Penske to sponsor the #22 for 33 races each season all the way through 2018. Penske has also added Hertz to the sponsor stable. Finally, Penske says that he has talked to Ryan Newman about a return to the team, but Hornish is the first option for a third car.

In a time teams are struggling to find single race sponsor (nevermind full-time sponsorship), Shell has extended with Penske to sponsor the #22 for 33 races each season all the way through 2018. Penske has also added Hertz to the sponsor stable. Finally, Penske says that he has talked to Ryan Newman about a return to the team, but Hornish is the first option for a third car.

Hope Sam will not be discarded again after making room for Logano this year. I think he deserves another shot. Talks with Newman make a lot of sense since we know that Harvick will drive for SHR next year. Unless there's suddenly money for a 4th car at SHR, Newman will be the one leaving.

Per Jayski, Hendrick Motorsports will be running Truck for the first time in over 10 years with the #94 truck driven by 17-year-old Chase Elliott.

He will drive at both Martinsville and Iowa dates as well as Rockingham, Dover, Bristol, Mosport, and Phoenix.

Good news! He's another terribly fast young man! NASCAR's got a bunch of very talented youngsters coming up, hope most of them find a good seat and have the occasion to show what they can do, but I fear someone is going to be left afoot.

New deal between Joe Gibbs and Kyle Busch. Kyle will compete in 25 NNS races for JGR (crap!) and 10 Truck races with KBM.All engines will be JGR.

Yes Kyle we see you.

So JGR is building engines again? I thought they switched to TRD last year. And if I read it correctly, KBM is strictly a Truck Series operation. They no longer field NNS cars (the 54 now is JGR). Right?